The Northerner + London

Manchester is attracting an increasing amount of international investment. But how do we stop the city becoming a safety deposit box for rich foreign investors who have no intention of living here, let alone contributing to our civic life? Helen Pidd on how northern cities must grow without adopting the worst habits of the capital

London plans to spend more on bicycle lanes in the next decade than Greater Manchester has on all public transport infrastructure in the past 10 years. This has to change, argues economist Dr John Ashcroft

Journalism is the preserve of the middle classes because employers love a CV full of unpaid work – usually in London. What chances do talented northerners have, asks Mark Hattersley, in the latest in our series on the subject

Last October, Iain Dalton, Yorkshire regional organiser of Youth Fight For Jobs and a member of the union USDAW was part of a team of young people who recreated the Jarrow March to highlight the impact of youth unemployment. For the third of her posts on Saturday's TUC march, Ann Czernik caught up with him at Harrogate College on the campaign trail.

We've a new guest blogger: Janice Gwilliam who combines two very different interests in her volunteering work: conservation work in the North York Moors national park and helping asylum seekers in Leeds.